Outrun - Cyberpunk LitRPG

As soon as I returned home, I changed into more comfortable clothes and got busy writing in my notebook. So many names, faces, and detes to remember floated around my head, and I was worried about forgetting some of them. Every mark I gathered information on had their detes written down and a brief search of them through their net for even more information.

Those of particularly high interest, such as the lady who owned the silver and gem-encrusted cast of the Mau, I marked with a moon. Only eight of the fifty-six names I wrote down got that honor. Once I was done, I sat back in bed and reread through the list to make sure I didn’t miss anyone.

Now then, that took care of finding ‘donors’. I just needed to find a place for my stash, get my calling card up and ready, and make sure I was actually good to go snatch the goods.

I looked through my gear. I wasn’t in the best place to klep shit, but I also wasn’t in a bad place either. Between my Perks and toys, I should be able to get through most mid-level security without a hassle.

My biggest worry was my face being seen while out on a heist. The Advent Ghost had its feature scrubber built in, so I wouldn’t have to worry about cameras spotting me, but people still could. The answer to that was obvious.

I dug through my backpack for the mask I grabbed from the other thief’s stash. It was alright, I guess, but there wasn't enough cover to hide behind. I tossed it onto my work table and got busy making designs.

I settled on a rather simple black mesh sheet instead of anything fancy. It was extremely similar to the featureless mask Bertram and the guard wore at the gala. The sheet had two crescent-shaped holes to act as eyes with the same one-way plastic I used on my Scouters.

After sending it to the printer, I started to tear apart the other mask. I carefully documented the entire time, taking it apart piece by piece. I took pictures and drew up a blueprint for it all so I’d know how to get it back together as I disassembled it into pieces.

The almost featureless black mask finished up in the printer, so I took it out and got to work. It was a bit of a pain in the ass to get all the technical bits transferred over, but I managed to get the entire breathing apparatus from my original mask onto my new one with minimal screwups.

By the time I was done, I had a full face mask that would guard my face during heists. The bottom part of the mask was the black mesh from my original, so it would also double as protection from poisons or atmospheric conditions. I knew from listening during the gala that some of them favored using gasses as a defense. The mask honestly looked a bit creepy? I slid it on and breathed deeply, feeling cool fresh air in my lungs.

After that, I got to work on my calling card. Of course, I knew calling cards weren't exactly the brightest idea for trying to lay low, but there was no way in hell I wouldn't claim a crime. Or at least claim it under a different identity. I worked late into the night settling on a design I liked. It would take some parts I didn’t have though, so I’d have to get them in the morning. I put up my stuff and headed for a warm shower.

– –

Early the next morning, while I was gulping down Sentinel Supreme Supplements, which, surprisingly, was worse than Jack’s Sun Kicker even though it tasted better, I received a message from Feras. ‘Thanks for saving me. New meetup Hellanis Hotel. Today, just after noon.'

I checked the time. I still had quite a bit until then. Or at least enough time to get my calling card all finished up. While I went about my daily routine, I sent a message to the Inquisitor. ‘Used the BED on a suspect. Send me the information?’

Then I headed out onto the streets of Aythryn City. I needed one thing in particular to get my calling card up and running: a holoprojector. Now, I could just go out and buy some, but that would take Rayn.

There were easier ways to get what I wanted though. In this case, it would also help the 'fine' people of Aythryn City with each holoprojector I acquired. I got on my bike and headed to the south side of Little Yukoto, the edge that jutted up against Downtown.

Once there, I found a spot to park my bike and started to walk down the streets for targets. It wasn’t long before I spotted my first victim amongst the crowd of people heading into work for the day.

The woman wore flashwear, which was exactly what I wanted. Her coat had a pop-up ad of the newest car from Schweigon International. It was some absurdly expensive sports car that only idiots with a lot of money would get.

I slid up next to her, changing my pace to match hers as my eyes scanned her jacket for the holoprojectors responsible for the advertisement. Surprisingly, it took quite a bit of effort to actually find the small glass beads poking out of her jacket.

Her particular model had eight micro-holoprojectors built into the fabric. Four along her shoulders and four along the bottom edge of the jacket. The ones on her shoulders would be too much effort, so they were out. The rest though? They were up for grabs.

I activated my Perks and got even closer, whipping my knife from my jacket. In one smooth motion, I tripped past her, cutting off the bottom edge of her jacket as close to the projectors as I could. Just before anyone could look at me, I stuffed the strip of fabric into my pocket and hurried on by.

Out of my peripherals, I spotted her checking her pockets. Then she shook her head and continued since I ‘hadn’t’ stolen anything. A smirk came to my face as I used the crowd to get behind her once more to see the stretched advertisement. I couldn’t even tell what the ad was anymore.

I spent a while repeating the process again and again, collecting forty holoprojectors before I called it good. With my new loot in tow, I headed back home.

It took me a while to get the holoprojectors free from the wiring and fabric of the techwear I klepped them from. It took even longer to check all of them for bugs or tracking software. Thankfully, flashwear was made to be offline entirely, so there wasn’t anything hidden in the pieces I cut free.

And then it was time for the meeting. I was a bit sad to leave my project unfinished, but I figured the gig was more important at the moment. I tidied up my workspace and headed out.

– –

“So… are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” I asked as I leaned back onto the room’s bed.

Feras sat at the hotel room’s desk, and Torren leaned up against the wall. Nobody said anything since I first entered the room. Torren looked like he honestly just didn’t care all that much, and Feras’s face kept flushing red like he was going to speak, but held himself back every time.

Feras sighed, wincing as his hand jumped to his side. “I fucked up… sorry. I should’ve checked the place out first… and I should’ve realized how bad the stab wound was before I headed to the Mortas Motel.” Feras shook his head.

I arched a brow to him. “You got stabbed before the motel?”

“One of the students at SPS found me out. Sent their guard after me.” He ran a hand over his side idly. “So I’m a dropout now.”

Shit, that wasn’t good. They would be all the more suspicious now considering a mole was already found. “Who was it?”

“Jeremy Snyder. He's one of the jocks. I thought he might’ve been our guy since he was good friends with three of the victims. He was an airhead though. Completely forgot about the three of them after they disappeared.” He shrugged. “Still doesn’t explain the others though.”

“Where are we at in the investigation then? Should we just back out entirely?” I asked. Sure it would suck to lose out on the rewards, but one of us was already stabbed. Add onto that we almost died to that poser gang, and the rewards really didn’t look worth it. I wanted to stay in just for the cool tech since it would help immensely in future heists, but I wasn't quite sure how the other two felt.

Torren spoke up from the wall, “I don’t think Claire did it. She's too much of an airhead and seems to have a hard time focusing. Hell, she didn’t even know who Quora Kalis was when I asked her.”

Weird. They were supposed to be best friends. Did Quora lie to her dad about who her best friend was? But he seemed so certain... I can ask around Monday. Maybe she was lying about it?

I thought back to my interactions with the other two primary suspects. “I don’t see Sean doing it, but Tristen might? He’s heavily into his career though, and murder would jeopardize that. Maybe not him then. What about the other victims? Is there anything on that angle?”

“That’s what I’ve been looking into,” Feras said. “None of them have anything in common other than SPS and some common friends. It's like some mad person just went around and snatched the first person they saw.”

“Weird,” Torren muttered.

It was strange. The whole gig was weird from the get-go. In the first place, how did so many students go missing, and barely anyone talked about it at school? To me, that feels like one of those rumor mill things that everyone should be talking about.

Then there was the whole oddity with the principal and his experiments- wait… were the missing kids his experiments? Did he take kids from the school? That was ballsy, but he would definitely have the means and the motive-

But he seemed like such a nice guy! Sure, a little bit of a suckup, but that didn’t mean he was responsible for the disappearances. And who knows? Maybe that experiment wasn’t even a bad thing in the first place? He was such a nice guy, after all. I shook my head, tuning back into the conversation.

“Regardless, I’m out. I can still play support, but my cover is blown entirely.” Feras motioned to his side. “And they obviously don’t want me back.”

“Should we try to find the body? Or bodies? It might be easier than trying to find the suspect from amongst the crowd.” Torren asked.

“Stupid idea.” Feras shot his idea down. “Where would we even start searching? If someone wants to get rid of a corpse in Aythryn City, they easily can. Really dumb idea.”

“It's a far better idea than going to Mortis Motel.” Torren crossed his arms, shooting a glare at the grifter.

Feras glared back. “Well, next time, how about you arrive on time? Wouldn’t have even been an issue if you got there when we said to.”

Woah, woah, woah. Why was he saying we? He definitely was the one making all the decisions as the team leader. This was going downhill. I raised a hand, drawing their attention. “Let's shift subjects for a bit?”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

I sighed as I looked between the two sulking on either side of the room. ”What did you loot?”

”I got out with the rifles. Uh, I pulled out the little thingies for the sound-suppressing thingy… I also grabbed the hilt of that guy's blade. Figured I might be able to sell it. Or maybe get it fixed? Wouldn’t mind having a katana like that.” Torren shrugged. “You?”

”Just the jammer.” The jammer and the suppressor would be so nice for my future crime spree… “I want to keep the jammer and the suppressor if that’s okay. I’ll fix the katana and you keep the rest of the shit. Deal?”

Feras coughed lightly. “What about-“

Torren broke into uproarious laughter. “Right, like we’d give the guy who threw us into danger and didn’t do anything to help a cut. Good joke, buddy. "

"I was just asking..."

Torren ignored the grifter. "Sure, sounds good to me. Oh, any chance you can paint the blade green?”

”Chek.” Just as soon as I figured out how to make a katana in general. Anyway, that left just one matter I was still caught up on from Mortas Motel. “What was up with that transformation of yours?”

”Oh. It’s a spell that changes all body fat to muscle.” He flexed his arm, pushing up his muscle. “What was up with you though? I had a hard time seeing you just standing there.”

Ah, min-maxer. I get it now. “It’s uh, an expensive liquid. Makes people and objects hazy.”

Torren nodded. “Feras did say you were a thief…”

”Nova talk guys... what about the investigation?” The grifter grumpily asked from the side of the room where he'd been abandoned.

”Another week.” I thought about the BED. There were still plenty of chances to find something of value. “Then, if nothing new, we pull out?”

Torren pushed himself off the wall. “Sounds good to me.”

”I’m already pulled out.” Feras shrugged. “Alright, keep me in the loop though so I can report back to the client. I'll ask around some contacts. See if there's something of note outside of the SPS that might be related.”

”Fine.” I popped off the bed and headed for the door.